Cruel Fate
by The Sparrow Messenger
Summary: A thousand years ago, a young country made a promise that he would never keep. A hundred years ago, North Italy became friends with the other Axis members. Now, fate's hands ticked once more... Who would have thought they'd have to go through it all? [Character death. HRIta and GerIta. Timeline placed in the future.]
1. Mille Anni - Italy

**Cruel Fate Part 1 :** ** _A Thousand Years_**

He had been carrying a pail of water and a deck broom, preparing to clean the house like Austria had instructed him to.

Then, he saw Holy Roman Empire preparing to leave for war, and everything but the broom clashed to the ground, spilling water everywhere.

Chibitalia ran as fast as he could, a tight grip on the deck broom in his hands. "Holy Roman Empire!" Hearing his voice, the young country turned to find the young "girl".

"Holy Roman Empire, are you leaving? Why are you leaving?" the sweet innocent voice of Chibitalia asked.

Holy Rome hesitated, before replying. "I... I'm going to go fight."

"Ve~ Really? That sounds scary!" Chibitalia thought for a bit. "...Ah! I know! I'll give you this deck broom, as a good luck charm!" He dropped the deck broom into the hands of the other country. Shocked, Holy Roman Empire could only say thank you, and the little "girl" began to return to his duties.

"Italy! I've always loved you, since the 900s," Holy Roman Empire exclaimed, just before Chibitalia left, causing him to halt in his tracks and turn around.

With more confidence in his voice this time, Holy Rome repeated his words once more. Of course, Chibitalia was certainly surprised, but he was happy too.

Smiling, he replied, "I love you too!"

And, afterwards, they shared a kiss goodbye.

"I promise I'll come back alive!"

Chibitalia smiled. "I'll be waiting for you to come back with sweets!"

Holy Roman Empire never came back.

He had broken his promise, and left Chibitalia broken-hearted.

But Chibitalia had always expected something like that. He knew something was already different the minute Holy Rome left.

The sweets he baked had all gone to waste.

This was when he learned to mask his emotions.

This was when he sung a song.

This was when he began to hide it all, all behind a cheerful song of the world spinning, coloured by a paintbrush.

This was when he grew up and matured.

For Holy Roman Empire's death had given Italy a chance to grow and thrive, as a country.

For Holy Roman Empire's death had given Italy a chance to mature and learn the truth of the world, as a person.

For Holy Roman Empire's death had given Italy the one thing that he would never, ever fix.

A broken heart.

 _In this case, sweets refer to "dolce", the Italian word for sweet - a generic term I sometimes use to refer to cakes and other baked goods that are particularly sweet, like certain kinds of chocolate cookies (especially the ones I bake myself)._

 _The referenced scene(s) are the ones where Holy Roman Empire was about to leave for war at the end of the Chibitalia arc - albeit extremely inaccurate because I didn't rewatch it. The following bit about Holy Rome not returning references the bit where Italy finally grows up while singing "Marukaite Chikyuu"._

 _The importance of the dolce isn't really clear yet - it will be explained next chapter - but assuming you know what ships I ship, it's an easy guess._

 _Please give me comments on what you think of this story! - The Sparrow Messenger_


	2. Erinnerung - Prussia

**Cruel Fate Part 2 : Erinnerung (According to Google Translate, Remembrance in German)**

 _1900s, before wartimes_

That same broom that Chibitalia had given to Holy Roman Empire now sat in Germany's neat attic, waiting to reveal the truths that it hid. Germany never knew where it came from, and always assumed that it was his older brother, Prussia's.

Then again, that wouldn't explain the other items with it - as far as he knew, Prussia had never owned a black hat that looked like that, and the albino was certainly no skilled artist, even if he could draw little birds.

So why exactly was there a painting of a young child dressed in white? ...And why did that very child seem so familiar, yet foreign?

Whatever the case, Germany ended up using that broom a lot, especially when cleaning the attic - mostly because it was convenient, though. He did, however, decide that he was going to find out exactly who the painting was of, and why it was in his attic. Meanwhile, he'd make sure to keep the painting clean and in good shape, even if he didn't put it up.

The black hat, broom and painting were always in a corner of the attic, on their own. Only Germany ever interacted with those objects - Prussia avoided them as much as he could.

* * *

Germany did, in fact, query his older brother Prussia about those three mysterious objects.

"Bruder... Do you know why we own these?" he had asked, holding the painting and hat in his hands. Prussia, who'd been rocking out on his air guitar, immediately stopped. He looked at the objects, and immediately asked, "Where... where did you find those?"

Germany was quite shocked by Prussia's reaction at first. After all, it couldn't have been anything that meant that much to him, could it? "It was in the attic, with all sorts of other things."

For the first time, Prussia was completely deep in thought. He knew the significance of these objects, even if it didn't mean all that much to him.

"...let me tell you a story."

* * *

Prussia had never ran as fast before that day. He'd never needed to; never wanted to. But on that day, he feared, 'if I don't run fast enough, then he would kill, then he would die!' So, he ran as fast as he could to the battlefield where Holy Roman Empire was. He had to make sure that his little brother lived.

When he arrived, he could only watch as the teary-eyed France pierce through the young child's body with his rapier. Holy Roman Empire had been strong on his own; he had fought well, but what he had done wasn't enough. He had almost been killed.

Holy Roman Empire collapsed to the ground, and France watched as Prussia, his longtime best friend, ran over to the fallen country. The country that he himself had killed with his bare hands. He had no choice but to, but he would never be able to forgive himself. France said a single phrase to both of them at once. "I'm sorry."

Prussia was angry that his best friend would kill his younger brother, so angry that he immediately got up and punched France in the face. France didn't retaliate at all, merely saying, "...Bring him back to your house with you. Mayhaps he still has a chance to live." The bloodied country walked away, unable to forgive himself for his heinous crime.

"Please, don't tell young Italy that I killed Holy Rome. I can't forgive myself already."

Prussia was angry at himself too. He was angry that he couldn't be fast enough, that he couldn't save the young Holy Rome, and that he couldn't stop France from killing his younger brother. That was when he remembered something else. "Holy Roman Empire's possessions!" He'd faintly remembered overhearing Austria mention Holy Rome's deck brush that he had been given. He remembered hearing about the painting that Holy Rome himself made.

Carrying Holy Rome's body on his back, he went to look for the items that mattered the most to him. He never found them.

France had taken the items with him, and never returned them as far as Prussia knew. The only thing Prussia had left of Holy Rome was his black hat, stained in blood. A few days after Holy Rome was brought back to the house, his body had disappeared, leaving only a black hat behind.

* * *

"So this hat... it belonged to this Holy Rome?" Germany asked. It was strange - he had never heard of this "Holy Rome" prior to this story.

"Yes. And it, apparently, brought with it luck."

Prussia never told him the full story. He realised, at once, why the painting was with them. Why the deck brush was in the attic. He knew who the child in the painting was, and he realised what this meant.

Prussia neglected to tell Germany that Holy Rome didn't die, even if he didn't live. He only disappeared, and no one found him after he left. They'd found Germany instead.

Prussia knew. Germany had been Holy Roman Empire. It was the only explanation left.

Now to let them both meet.

* * *

 _Flashback to explain what happened to the items. France later returned the items to Prussia, but he wasn't the one who found the items. Sorry if the timeline of this story is a little messy (by a little I mean a lot) and if historically all of this is weird. After all, at this point in time in history, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy have a Triple Alliance (or quadruple because Austria-Hungary huehue)._

 _My World/European History is a little sub-par, no matter how much I try to make it historical. Sorry. Please review!_

 _~The Sparrow Messenger_


End file.
